Sep 9 2009 Huuuge Robot Statue Coming To South Korea
If you thought the 59-foot Gundam statue in Japan was large, boy were you wrong. Because South Korea is erecting a massive 364-foot statue (twice as large as the Statue of Liberty) of Robot Taekwon V (aka Voltar the Invincible). Scared? It gets worse. You see, the statue is being built for a new amusement park called Robot Land. Geez, talk about scarring your children for life. This is worse than coming downstairs on Christmas hoping for a Nintendo, only to find your mom gangbanging the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny underneath the tree. Nobody even ate the cookies!
giant robot taekwon v statue will be six times as large as giant gundam statue [technabob]
Nov 19 2008 Korean Soldiers Get New Halo-y Armor
The Rupublic of Korea's troops are stepping into winter fashion in a big way -- with all new threads and a sweet-ass rifle.
The new new battle uniforms would provide protection against nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks, and would feature automatic temperature control. A new protective vest is also planned. In addition to keeping the lead out, the helmet will be prewired for minicam video transmission, GPS navigation, and assorted networking gear
And the gun?
The double-barreled K-11 assault rifle lets the shooter fire either NATO 5.56- or 20-millimeter grenades, all off the same trigger. Day and night aiming is accomplished with a thermal target seeker and laser that calculates distance automatically--a true point-and-shoot.
Oh man, WANT! I just question how legitimate this new gear is seeing how the picture looks suspiciously like someone Xeroxed the cover of an old sci-fi novel.
Hit the jump for a 5:00 video about the new rifle. Pretty sweet drop-test footage starting at 4:15.
Nov 13 2008
For The Ladies Everyone: A Makeup Fridge
Korean manufacturer IDOCI is releasing a small refrigerator specifically designed for storing cosmetics. The unit will keep eyeliner, blush, rouge, lipstick, war paint, and fake blood in "the ideal 8 - 12 degree Celsius (46 - 53 Fahrenheit) range." Not only that, each fridge has an interior light. So you can see the shit inside! No word on price, but they do come in a ton of different colors. Which, if you're actually considering a fridge for your makeup, is probably far more important than cost.
Hit the jump for color options!
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For The Ladies Everyone: A Makeup Fridge
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Jun 10 2008 "Pet Boys" Gaining Popularity In Korea
Pet boys are real guys that put themselves up for "adoption" by South Korean women. It's basically for chicks that want a boyfriend that they can shit on all the time.
Pet Boys, who are often college kids in their 20's, find "Being someone's pet is stress free job with no financial burden at all."The idea came from a Japanese anime story that was popular about 5 years ago. It was about a business woman who always had bad luck in relationships. One day, she decided to take home a young man off the street to live with her as her pet.
Huh? Apparently Pet Boy services are popping up around Korea, and recently a TV show had over 2,200 applicants after advertising Pet Boy positions. This makes no sense whatsoever. All I can gather is that the chicks want a boyfriend they can lock in the closet and treat however they want, and the guys all hope to eventually get some. Ha, good luck guys -- too bad there's a universal taboo against having sex with pets.
Would you Adopt a "Pet Boy"? [weirdasianews]
Thanks Shawn and Rya, now where do I sign myself up for adoption?
Jun 10 2008 Security Robot Protects South Korean Children From "Free Candy" Scams
We've seen Japanese robot babysitters, but now South Korea is ramping it up a notch with an actual robotic security guard for children. The $100,000 robot, dubbed OFRO, has been placed in Seoul middle schools and alerts officials to suspicious behavior.
According to the developers the robot could be useful in alerting staff in case outsiders intend to seduce students. Chief Executive of Du Robo, Kang Jung-Won, told Korea Times that one of the possible scenarios is that in case OFRO spots someone trying to seduce a student it will immediately alert school's officials.After the robot has alerted teachers, they have several opportunities: whether to warn the offender via loudspeaker or send school's security guards.
OFRO has a top speed of about 3 miles/hour which is slow as shit and can be programmed to walk a regular route or controlled manually. Now where the hell were these things when I was a kid? We had all kind of damned creeps hanging around the middle school. Seriously, Peder Lou's Free Candy Van was like a second home growing up.
South Korea Hires Robot to Protect Children [weirdasianews]
Thanks MIKAL, now lets go blow up some white vans
May 19 2008 South Korea To Build Robot-Themed Parks By 2013, Destruction Of Human Race Ensues
I question how a robot-themed amusement park is going to complement the future Seoul Eco-Commune of 2026, but whatever, they didn't ask for my opinion. Besides, if the robot parks are a success, Korea won't need an Eco-Commune in 2026 because everyone will be dead. Robotic destruction prophecies aside, the South Korean government plans to build two robot-themed parks near Seoul by 2013. The $1.6 billion venture is all part of a program to position the country as the world's robotic mecca. Other initiatives include placing a robot in every household by 2020 and a recently drafted Robot Ethics Code, which lays down the law as to what constitutes robotic abuse, etc. Yes, I'm being serious.
The government of South Korea is drawing up a code of ethics to prevent human abuse of robots--and vice versa.
The new charter is part of an effort to establish ground rules for human interaction with robots in the future."Imagine if some people treat androids as if the machines were their wives," Hye-Young Park of the ministry's robot team told the AFP news agency.
Hye-Young, I have no idea what in the hell you're trying to get at. Are you saying that treating robots that way would be a good thing or a bad thing? I mean it's not like I want to have sex with them, I just want somebody who can cook my eggs over-easy for once.
A picture of a chick and a robot having a slap fight after the jump.
Mar 31 2008 Seoul Commune 2026 Looks, Uh, Interesting
Since I know so many of you out there love conceptually crazy buildings, here comes another -- Seoul Commune 2026. Not exactly the design I would have gone for, but what do I know? I've only won the damn commune design competition eight years running. Anyway, Green Towers is to be built in Seoul, South Korea and cover approximately 400,000 square meters. Each of the 15 towers will range in size from 16 to 53 stories, and all will look ridiculous. What exactly was the inspiration for these things? Coral? Mushrooms? Misshapen dongs?
The towers' functions are separated into public, private, and commercial, offering purely-private rooms called "cells", communal spaces for public activity and welfare/medical facilities. The base of the 15 towers, where the park merges with the towers, creates the widest spaces of the site. Above, the first floor is 75 meters wide and extends up to the height of the first five stories. The ground floor space is reserved for pedestrians. Three walkways converge there and circulate around each tower's elevator core.
Screw it, I'd live in one.
Several more pictures of the ridiculousness after the jump.
Continue Reading " Seoul Commune 2026 Looks, Uh, Interesting "
Nov 2 2007 Charcoal Toothpaste Looks Like Sludge
Charcle is a Korean charcoal based toothpaste. It is black, looks like sludge, and probably doesn't taste like licorice. A DesignNotes tester had the following to say about the product:
This morning I tried it for the first time, the experience ended up being less pleasant then I first thought it would be. I was fine seeing the black stuff on my brush, it wasn’t until it went into my mouth when my stomach started to turn. Near the end I barely could brush my tongue and when I spit it out to rinse I felt a bit queazy. In the end though my mouth did feel clean, but I’m not sure if the weirdness that I felt would be something I’d want to do again.
So there, it's surprisingly unpleasant. Never would have guessed that. Now from what I remember (which is very little) I think charcoal is what they use to pump my stomach when I've "had too much to drink". Whatever that means. Just because you're caught humping a parking meter doesn't mean you've "had too much to drink". No sir. It just means you have fine taste in quarter receptacles. And trust me, parking meters are some of the best -- right up there with arcade games and old cigarette vending machines.
Charcoal Toothpaste - Just About The Worst Thing I've Seen All Week [ohgizmo]
Oct 17 2007 Samsung 1,152 Person Commercial
If you haven't seen this already it's a video made in South Korea for Samsung featuring 1,152 people coordinating their moves to make images (like a monster LCD screen). They're not using cards, but clothes with different colors to make the changes. It's pretty mesmerizing, particularly if you've been doing drugs. In addition, at 1:05 in the video a cameraman almost gets trampled on the left side of the screen. Sweet. I particularly like the dancer they make at the 3:00 mark -- I think I saw her muff.
Youtube [thanks to ultra-cool tz for the tip]
Oct 11 2007 Toilet House Won't Flush, Smells Like Ass
In celebration of the first General Assembly of the World Toilet Association, the founder, Sim Jae-duck had this commode house built south of Seoul. The home boasts four deluxe toilets -- whatever the hell those are, and its center has a showcase bathroom, where "the toilets have features that range from elegant fittings to the latest in water conservation devices." The Assembly's goal is to provide clean sanitation for the more than 2 billion people who live without toilets. So why they're building a giant toilet house is a mystery to me. If you happen to be in South Korea go check it out, right at the intersection of Shit Street and Urine Avenue. You can't miss it, it's the house shaped like a f'ing toilet.
One more from the ground after the jump.
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Oct 8 2007 A High Tech Cross For Jesus Lovers
The WL777PB Blue LED Cross is a very high tech cross indeed. I mean, it has blue LEDs. Talk about futuristic. Not only that, it comes with fake diamonds and can be programmed to scroll whatever you want. They cost about $38, and are available from a Korean site that I couldn't read. I think I might get one. After all, nothing says "the devil is a punk bitch" better than a blue LED cross.
Blue LED Cross - religion needs a new message? [redferret]
Sep 17 2007 McDonald's Offering Cell Phone Ordering
Because standing in line and ordering in person is analog and burns too many calories, a Korean McDonald's is experimenting with a new cell phone ordering system. Customers plug special RFID devices into their phones, and then browse the menu, pushing buttons to order food. When your order is ready, you receive a text message, notifying you it's time to pack on some weight. I don't even see the purpose for this. I doubt it saves very much time, and it's probably a pain to scroll the menu on a damn phone. And how do you pay? Thanks but no thanks. I only use my cell phone for what it was meant to be used for. Those sexy talk text messaging services.
McDonald's Offering Cell Phone Ordering [therawfeed]
